daily economic news
2022-09-27 18:34:47
Every reporter Li Xing Every editor Sun Lei
On September 26, local time, Faraday Future (FFIE, stock price of US$0.84, market value of US$276 million) announced that the company and its largest shareholder, FF Top Holding LLC (FF Global Partners, hereinafter referred to as FF Top), will discuss financing and Board reorganization reached a final agreement.
Image source: Faraday Future WeChat public account
The announcement shows that the current executive chairman Sue Swenson and the current director Brian Krolicki will resign due to the blame. The board of directors of Faraday Future (hereinafter referred to as FF) will undergo a major reorganization after the annual general meeting, and the original nine director seats will be adjusted to seven.
As the largest shareholder of FF, FF Top holds more than 20% of FF’s equity and about 36% of voting rights. According to public information, FF Top has earlier submitted a power of attorney on the removal of FF director Brian Krolicki and executive chairman Susan Swenson, and obtained Sean Smart Limited (hereinafter referred to as FF’s second largest shareholder), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Evergrande Automobile. Timely Corporation).
On September 16, Shiying submitted a 13D announcement to the US SEC (that is, an announcement that shareholders individually or jointly hold more than 5% of the company’s shares), indicating that it has sent two consecutive letters to the FF board of directors, urging the holding of a special shareholders’ meeting as soon as possible. The annual general meeting of shareholders, and reiterated that FF Top Holding, as the largest shareholder of FF, has full rights to remove independent director Brian Krolicki and chairman Susan Swenson according to the shareholder agreement.
Not only that, but because of governance differences, on September 22, FF’s official website issued a statement saying that the company’s efforts to introduce new funds were affected by “completely unfounded and false allegations.” Some directors are conspiring to push the company into unnecessary bankruptcy for personal gain, leading to lawsuits that even escalate to “physical violence and death threats”.
According to the latest announcement issued by FF, as of September 26, local time, the FF board of directors reached a comprehensive solution with FF Top on governance differences and implemented the final new financing agreement. The company continues to have active discussions with investors to negotiate financing for the mass production delivery of the FF 91. “This means that FF founder Jia Yueting and his partner team have successfully reorganized the company’s board of directors and regained control of FF that has been lost for more than a year.” FF said.
On September 27, Jia Yueting, who rarely speaks out, also commented on the matter on his personal Weibo, saying: “Setting things right and getting back on track is another major turning point for FF.
Image source: Sina Weibo (@jiayueting)
In addition, the FF announcement shows that under the recommendation and introduction of the founder Jia Yueting and the FF partner team, FF has obtained more than 100 million US dollars in financing from Daguan and American ATW Partners. “This series of key financings provides sufficient financial guarantee for the mass production and delivery of FF 91 Futurist.” FF said that the successful reorganization of the board of directors and financing of more than 100 million US dollars will promote the smooth mass production of FF 91.
It is reported that at present, the mass production and delivery of FF 91 Futurist is still proceeding in an orderly manner. The factory equipment of FF ieFactory California in Hanford, California, USA has all been in place and is undergoing intensive testing. “Next, we will fully sprint for the mass production and delivery of the FF 91 Futurist.” Jia Yueting said.
Wall Street analysts believe that FF founder Jia Yueting and FF global partner team successfully reorganized the board of directors, the malicious bankruptcy director team was out, and the smooth financing exceeded 100 million US dollars, which means that the factors hindering the development of FF have been eliminated to a certain extent, and FF is expected to gain global popularity again. Capital market approval.
However, despite the smooth progress of the board reorganization and new financing of $100 million, there is still no guarantee that the FF 91 will be mass-produced and delivered as scheduled in the fourth quarter of this year. FF said in its latest SEC filing, FORM 8-K, that it would delay delivery of FF 91.
FF said in the filing that as of September 21, 2022, the company’s cash position (meaning the payments) in the U.S. was $33.5 million, of which $2.1 million was restricted cash. According to the latest forecast, FF is expected to burn operating cash of $293 million between September 1 and December 31, 2022, compared to approximately $708 million for the full year 2022.
It is reported that as part of saving cash and reducing expenses, FF recently implemented a series of cost-cutting measures, including layoffs and extended payment cycles. FF said that according to FF’s financial situation and market conditions, the company may take further measures to cut costs, including further layoffs.
Given the need for significant follow-on funding, FF said the company is in discussions with potential funding sources to obtain the additional funds needed to fund operations by the end of 2022 and beyond. “Following the successful completion of these works, a new schedule for the production and delivery of the FF 91 is expected to be announced,” FF said.
It is worth mentioning that this is the second time this year that the mass production of FF 91 has been postponed. Previously, FF determined the delivery time of FF 91 in the third and fourth quarters of 2022, respectively.
Cover image source: Faraday Future WeChat public account